Postdoctoral Scientist | Neurobiology | Dr Albert Cardona | LMB 2298

Job description

To work within the group of Dr Albert Cardona at the MRC Laboratory of Molecular Biology (LMB), within a programme aimed at studying the neural circuit basis of behaviour. Specifically, to map the synaptic wiring diagram, or connectome, of whole brains, using machine learning approaches to computer vision, in a disease animal model. In order to compare the connectome across different experimental conditions, developmental stages, and strains or species, we must first measure the natural variability, by mapping the connectome across multiple individuals and statistically quantifying the individual differences from the common subset. Mapping the first connectome manually with computer-assisted means took 10 years and the effort of dozens of laboratories. Today, the knowledge acquired, the existence of one mapped connectome to act as reference, the fact that the larval fly brain is composed of stereotyped and uniquely identifiable neurons, plus machine learning approaches to computer vision, offers the opportunity to automatically map many connectomes across many animals, and therefore study how connectomes vary in development, in disease, and across closely related species. Identifyi...